The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1887-10-25
FARMS AND FARMERS.
Short Talks With the Men Who
Guide the PloW.
QUESTIONS ONFARM TOPICS ANSWERED
Wheat sowing. Llming land, Etc.

1y as possible, except towards the gulf and
Atlantic borders. In these more southerly
localities sowing may be deferred for month
longer. Do not forget that wheat calls for a
rather compact soil, except near the surface
say for two inches deep. These two inches of
surface soil cannot be made too fine for it. A
disc harrow run number of times in different
directions does the work admirably. Awheat
crop is often injured by turning under large
quantity of weeds or vines which prevents the
undersoil from compacting. Indeed, it may
be regarded upon the whole as good practice
not to plow deep for wheat. After once
breaking, let the harrow complete the
preparation. The manure applied
should be also near the surface;
the harrow will cover it sufficiently deep.
Success hinges good deal upon the regular
distribution of the seed and the uniformity of
the depth to which they are covered. Both of
these ends are reached better by drilling ma
chimes than by the ordinary hand sowing and
blowing or narrowing in. A good machine
will space the seed properly. 1t can be adj
1usted to SOW certain amount of seed to an
acre 1t will also put the seed in the ground
at perfectly uniform depth. This should be
from one to one and half inches; never over
two inches. At greater depths the seed will
come up, and ordinary observation would not
detect any difference, perhaps, in the crop, but
careful and repeated experiments have shown
that when planted deep tho yield is smaller.
The regular spacing of the seed is of equal i'm
portance. If possible each plant ought to have
exactly the same amount of soil, air and light
How seldom, or never, is this
attained from ordinary hand sowing. If
one is partial to broadcasting, by all means
get broadcast sower. With proper care and
adjustment these can be made to do very nice
and do Va ,o1zo
for the poverty of our exhausted land, for our
less manageable labor, and for the sharp COM
petition of these latter days, by nicer and more
thorough work. The time has come when we
must quit slipshod, helter-skelter ways.
Extremes are not often to be recommended,
but in the case of wheat they are in one re-
Bpect. The crop is so uncertain and unreliable
in climate that it is best to SOW good
breadth of ordinary land without manuring it,
or else SOW a very few acres manured very
heavly-the extensive or the intensive. OBJ
lection to the first sis the amount of seed and
of labor required Both may be economised
Thin land does not call for heavy seeding
three pecks per acre will answer. On corn or
cotton land cut up and beat down the stalks
and cover seed with disc harrow without pre-
yious breaking. One hand and two horses can
put in six or moro acres a day. The roller
following will go over the same ground in
o day. Land well cultivated through the
summer does not require additional
breaking for an ordinary wheat crop. 1t has
about the right compactness of which we
spoke above, and needs only the surface stirring
which the harrow will give. Heavy yieldsper
acre are not to be expected under such
methods, but as the outlay is small and land
abundant, the profits may be as great and the
risk no greater than under the opposite
method.
When one has high, well drained land
adapted to wheat, it may be more profitable
perhaps to break deep, manure heavily and
prepare thoroughly and SOW only few acres.
The thorough preparation and high manuring
are expected to give the crop such vigor as to
enable it to;iwthstand adverse circumstances
and this they will do to q certain extent.
Under such treatment wheat will make par
eial crop, when. under adverse seasons, that
which is unmanured would make a
total failure. The intensive method saves
seed to some extent labor also, but increases
expenditure on manure account
If one contemplates lining his land,
the present is good time to make the
application The effects of lime are not APP
preciable for some months after it is applied.
For summer crops it should be applied in au-
tumn or early winter, for fall crops in spring
or early summer. AS lime tends of itself to
sink down in the soil, it should never be
pIowed in, but simply scattered on the surface.
In our hot dry climate moderate doses only
are to be recommended. Five to ten bushels
per acre is ample. The best form in which to
Ese it is a good mari. Twenty to forty bushels
per acre of o rich mari might be applied. The
next best form of lime is the air-slaked, of this
Ave to ten bushels per acre will be enough.
Phosphates contain good deal of lime, enough
perhaps for ordinary crops when they are lib
orally applied Direct applications of lime are
generally made, not to supply plant-food, but
as an amendment to the soil, to develop its
hidden resources Heavy claYs and lighter soils
shat are filed with vegetable matter are
most benefited by it. AS rule also, regions
farthest north in the cotton belt are more
likely to receive benefit from lining than those
farther south. Try an application of lime on
small scale, and note results next summer
One had better go rather slow in this matter.
1t is too late now to expect much from lime ON
the present winters grain crop. But land
lined now ought to show it's effect a little on
next summers crops, and still more on grain
crops succeeding them. 1t is useless to apply
lime to wet, undrained land but wet lands
that have been recently drained are quite apt
TO be improved by lining There is usually an
excess of vegetable acids in the soil of such
lands, which lime will correct. If any Of our
readers have experience in lining land, will
thea not kindly give it to THE CONSTITUTION.
w. L. j.
FARM QUESTION BOX.
]. F. 3. Evinston Station, Fla: I have about a
ton each Of cotton seed meal, acid phosphate and
stable manure, which wish 10 use In come 'tiol
with four tons Of hard wood ashes my Irish 20
tatoes, cucumbers and cabbage next December and
January. Please say in your nextwhen to mix, and
whether the cabbage and potatoes need more ashes
than the cucumbers?
Mix phosphate and stable manure at once.
Dampen the manure and mix thoroughly with
phosphate, placing the mixture under shelter
In pen and tramping lit firmly. When
ready to apply mix other substances with
manure and phosphate mixture. One object
In composing the manure and the phosphate
now, is TO get the manure thoroughly dsinte-
grated so that it may be evenly mixed with the
other substances, and be uniformly distributed
on the land. Ashes make an excellent manure
for vegetables-potatoes need them. however
more than other vegetables Cabbages are
nj oo1I &. f,,1T